This is Havasu Falls in Arizona. The colors are real… but doesn’t it look like something out of a child’s wild imagination? I guess they used just about all the prettiest crayons in the box for this one. Brilliant turquoise water. Orange sandstone cliffs. And pink clouds against such a beautiful blue sky. This shot is all about color.

I really wanted to get a shot of the falls under a brilliant sky, but I wasn’t convinced we’d have any really good color. I waited anyway. The color didn’t last long, but I was in the just the right place to capture it. The canyon was in shade, so the light was pretty even. I used a circular polarizer to minimize glare off the water, and I reduced the brightness of the sky just a bit in post-processing to get the exposure exactly right. Over or under exposure will make the colors feel dull and lifeless… but the correct exposure really makes the colors pop.

What do you think? Should I convert to black and white? ;) (Just kidding, of course.)